March 16, 2011

Damage caused by Japan earthquake, tsunami, nuclear crisis 2011

Key facts about DAMAGE and DESTRUCTION caused byJapan earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis of March 2011

click HERE for full updated post with general info, info on economic impact, facts on earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disasters

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* DEATH TOLL:The official death toll on April 8 was 12,690. More than 14,700 are still unaccounted for. In the small port town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi prefecture, some 10,000 people are missing, more than half its 17,500 population. On March 14, 1,000 bodies washed up on shores on Ojika peninsula and another 1,000 were spotted in Minamisanriku.

* EVACUATED: About 500,000 people were evacuated up to March 15, including 70,000 within a 20 km (12 mile) radius of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. One week after the disaster, some 390,000 people - many elderly - were still homeless and living in shelters in near-freezing temperatures. On April 8, about 157,600 people were still living in shelters around the country.

At least 48,600 buildings were completed destroyed, washed away or burnt down. At least 117,570 buildings were damaged, according to the National Police Agency.

* LIFE IN AFTERMATH: March 15, 4 days after the disaster, 850,000 households / 2 million people were without electricity in freezing weather and another 1.5 million without running or drinking water. Many supermarket shelves were empty. There were 2km (1.2mile)-long queues / four-hour waits at some gas stations. Some people have been forced to live hand-to-mouth, surviving on shared instant noodles, rice crackers and rice balls.

April 7: About 159,000 households in the north still without power after the March 11 triple whammy. That figure went up to more than 3.2 million after a 7.1 magnitude aftershock on April 7.

March 19: Nearly 260,000 households in the north still without electricity (according to Tohuku Electric Power Co), about 1 million homes have no running water (according to Health Ministry). Aids groups say most vicitims are getting help, but some are suffering.

March 23: 212,472 households without electricity. 660,000 households without access to water.

* INSURED LOSSES: estimated US$35 billion (estimate by risk modelling company AIR Worldwide), nearly as much as the entire worldwide catastrophe loss to the global insurance industry in 2010.

* COST OF DAMAGE: Economics Minster Kaoru Yosano said the economic damage was more than 20 trillion yen (US$248 billion) - his estimate of the total economic impact of the 1995 earthquake in Kobe. What is clear is that the reconstruction costs will be Japan's biggest since World War II. Yosano said government spending was likely to exceed the 3.3 trillion yen spent after Kobe, which up to now has been considered the world’s costliest natural disaster. (more info on economic impact of disaster here)

* NUCLEAR CRISIS: The nuclear crisis is developing. The cooling systems for the six reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi (No.1) plant 250 km north-east of Tokyo were knocked out by the March 11 tsunami. This led to suspected partial meltdowns; hydrogen explosions and fires have also ripped through the plant.

March 27: Confusion over extent of radiation leak. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power initially said radiation levels were 10 million times higher than normal. It later retracted the statement and said the radiation level in puddles near reactor No. 2 were more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour. A single dose of 1,000 millisieverts can cause temporary radiation sickness, including nausea and vomiting. An exposure of 100 millisieverts per year is considered the lowest level at which an increase in cancer risk is evident. Several hundred metres offshore, levels of radioactive iodine some 1,850 times the legal limit were reported on March 27 but officials ruled out an immediate threat to marine life and seafood safety. Radioactive vapour seeping from the plant has contaminated tap water and farm produce in the region, leading the United States, European Union, China and many other countries to stop the import of Japanese food.

March 23: The Japanese government says radioactive iodine exceeding the level considered safe for infants has been detected in Tokyo’s tap water. Radiation has already seeped into vegetables, raw milk, the water supply and even seawater in areas surrounding the plant, with radioactivity drastically exceeding legal limits found in more than 10 kinds of vegetable grown in Fukushima.

March 20: Engineers are fighting to lower rising temperatures at the plant. The radiation-suited crews managed to restore power to the ageing facility by reconnecting the No. 2 reactor to the national power grid, crucial to efforts to cool it down and limit radiation leak. They are also pumping seawater to cool the overheating reactors and replenish bubbling and depleted pools for spent nuclear fuel.

March 19: Traces of radiation first detected in spinach and milk from farms 30-120 km (20-75 miles) from the nuclear plant. Radiation also found further away in tap water, rain and even dust. In all cases, the government said the radiation levels were too small to pose an immediate risk to health. Radiation also detected in eastern Russia but at levels that pose no risk to humans, according to Austria’s Meteorological and Geophysics Center.

March 15: Radiation levels near the Fukushima Dai-ichi (No.1) plant 250 km north-east of Tokyo, ranged from 30 to 400 millisieverts in the morning. A single dose of 1,000 millisieverts – or one sievert – causes temporary radiation sickness such as nausea and vomiting.

* FOREIGN AID

134 countries and 39 international organisations have offered Japan help.

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comments:

Anonymous
said...

hey,that was awesome informationand i will usesome of the information to talk to my classmates because im doing a power point.about the trategy in japan.so im going to take some notes,to talk in class.but ofcourse ill give you credit. :)

thanks. Glad it will be of use to you. I hope your class finds it helpful too!Grace

Geoff Pembertong
said...

Thanks for your time and effort to put this together. I found that there was little media coverage after a month or so of the tsunamis and I had been too busy to catch up with the news on TV or in the paper.Thanks again.Geoff

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